Oscar (bionic cat)

Oscar is a cat, owned by Kate Allan and Mike Nolan, who lives on the Channel Island of Jersey. In 2009 Oscar had both hind paws severed by a combine harvester. Since then he has undergone a pioneering operation to add prosthetic feet. The treatment has since been considered for use with humans.

Accident

In October 2009, at the age of two and a half years, Oscar had both the paws of his hind legs severed by a combine harvester while in a maize field near his home in Jersey. The legs were cut between the ankle and the foot. Oscar was later found by a passing cyclist who then brought Oscar to his owners' home. Mike Nolan, an IT manager in a bank, was at home when the woman brought Oscar; he said that at this point Oscar was covered in blood, and he was convinced the cat would have to be put down. He and Oscar's other owner, Kate Allan, took him to their local veterinarian Peter Haworth.

Treatment

Peter Haworth, a vet at the New Era Veterinary Hospital, dressed Oscar's wounds and administered cat painkillers making him comfortable within minutes. Haworth then referred Allan and Nolan to the Surrey-based neuro-orthopaedic surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick. There was a lot of communication between the Irish surgeon and the Jersey owners. After looking at x-rays and pictures Fitzpatrick decided Oscar would be an ideal patient partly due to his young age. Oscar was then flown to the United Kingdom mainland by air cargo although he had to stay in his box for eight hours during the journey.

New feet

Oscar's owners did a lot of "soul-searching" before deciding to go ahead with the operation. Kate Allan later said that the cause for her uncertainty was that the kind of operation planned had never been done before. Although the operation carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick was a world first, it mimics a natural process, being similar to the way deer grow antler bones, in the manner that the implants grow through the skin. The implants were both custom-made to fit into holes drilled into Oscar's ankle bones. They are known as intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (ITAPs) and were developed by the head of University College London's Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Gordon Blunn and colleagues. They have a honeycomb structure which enables skin to bond with the implant to prevent infection. The implants are placed into the drilled holes which then allow for a "sock" to be fitted over them.

The ITAP technology is currently being tested on humans and a prosthetic has been made for a woman injured in the July 2005 London bombings. Fitzpatrick has said he would welcome a collaborative approach with other surgeons working on human amputations